Dublin hotel room rates at record levels

Average price of Dublin hotel room now higher than boom era.Room rates at Dublin hotels have reached a record high according to a report released by annual Crowe Horwath hotel industry survey. The average price of a hotel room in the capital is now €128 a night, beating the previous €121 record set in 2006 at the height of Ireland's so-called Celtic Tiger boom. The current average cost for a hotel room in Dublin has jumped from the 2016 price of €112 a night, with hotel room prices in the capital surging at nearly twice the rate of the rest of Ireland over the past year.Average room rates in Dublin rose almost 15 per cent in 2016, according to the survey, which cited a steady influx of visitors from the US. Although occupancy of Dublin hotels is currently at a healthy 82 per cent, insiders warn that high room rates risks eroding competitiveness in the capital's hospitality sector.The national average price of hotel rooms in Ireland, including Dublin, is €104 a night. Tourism generated an estimated €8 billion for the Irish economy in 2016, surpassing all previous records. However the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation warns that the industry faces a serious challenges from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit as well as the fall-off in British visitors due to the weakening value of sterling.